Under Rain or Shine
by bluestargem
Summary: Love, they say, is the best emotion of all.// A collection of one-shots featuring the pairings Neville/Luna, Lily/Teddy, James/Lily Evans


_Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. I'm just playing._

_For **Aiiimy **-- Happy Birthday Aimy! May you be filled with cake ^^ I hope you like this little (or very long) drabble collection and I hope you _loved_ your b'day._

* * *

**Under Rain or Shine**

Love is an elusive emotion, a passionate emotion, a painful emotion. First love is magical and fervent - a series of fumbling hands, stolen glances and shy blushes. Forbidden love is exciting – silent and secret, with blood pounding in ears, a blur of hot mouths against each other and breathy whispers in deserted classrooms laced with the tiniest amount of guilt. And true love – true love is the best, strong and warm, a kind of glow that drapes around you like a lover's cloak that beautifies all it touches.

Love is elusive. Passionate. Painful.

Love, they say, is the best emotion of all.

* * *

He's standing behind the greenhouses in the rain, staring at the dying Flutterby Bushes.

Biting his lip, he tries to shut away the memory as he casts a Rain-repellent Charm over the plants and gets to work. Gardening always helps in these times, when the screams of first years and the pain-filled shrieks of his friends mingling with the harsh laughter of Death Eaters echo in his head, trapped. The rhythmic work of cutting and pruning is calm and oddly tranquil.

But the Flutterby Bushes droop under the weight of the rain and no matter how hard Neville tries to revive them, it doesn't work. The leaves, once shiny and well-pruned, are now grey and withering and the branches, once green and thorny, are now brown-tipped and rotting.

He sucks in another breath and closes his eyes for a moment, shutting out the rainy grey scene. But darkness doesn't bring him peace either because now Michael's yells of pain, of desperation, are louder than ever, and the cries and wails of the first-year students watching are _agonising_ as they pervade his mind.

He hisses in pain suddenly, snatching his hand from the branch. A drop of blood, glittering and crimson, rolls down his hand. He'd forgotten to wear gloves.

And then the tears come. They roll down his cheeks and mingle with the rain until he can taste them, salty and bitter on his lips and he's shaking, clutching the thorny branches and yanking them out of the soil, throwing them with all his might out into the rain. His roar of frustration, of anger, of despair, echoes across the ground. And then, as he turns back to the potted ruins and lumps of dirt, at the empty pots and shredded leaves he'd worked so hard on, helplessness hollows into him. He slumps to the ground as his yell fades to soft sobs.

"Nargles probably got them," a familiar voice says lightly behind him.

Slowly, he turns around to see her walking towards him, soaked to the core and dreamily oblivious to such a mundane fact.

"They don't only affect mistletoe, you know. Nargles love all plants."

Shivering, he stares as she lowers herself to sit beside him, crossing her legs and calmly observing him.

All of a sudden, each and every nerve inside him is burning with sensitivity; he can hear the crinkling of her clothes against her skin, her soft breaths, her hair sweeping against the material of her robes. She shifts slightly and her long, slender fingers brush against his. He finds himself holding his breath as she takes his hand, wiping away the mud and the blood with the soft pad of her thumb.

"But you shouldn't fight them," she continues, and her hand curves around his. He lets his cut hand stay in her warm one, gaze fixed on hers.

She's close now, so close that all he can see are her eyes, wide and blue, surrounded by a fringe of dark gold lashes, and her cheeks, pale and clear and her lips, soft and red and warm.

"After all," she whispers, "Nargles are lovely creatures when you get to know them."

And then she closes her eyes and leans forward.

His first kiss is sweet and clumsy, a rush of warmth and soft smiles, but later, all he will remember are her lips, wet with rain and curving upwards and her eyes, even dreamier than usual, glowing into his.

"That was nice," she says in her serene way. He smiles.

They're still holding hands as they turn back to the castle.

* * *

She's just turned sixteen and Teddy arrives at her birthday party complete with his crooked smile and a bouquet of the most beautiful lilies-of-the-valley.

"Lilies for the Lily," he says in his charming voice and she slaps him good-naturedly for his cheesy pick-up line. But inside, she's smiling and warm and blushing like a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl. Teddy always has that effect on her.

When the party's over and the group has split to either watch the Muggle contraption in the lounge room or to stomp in the autumn leaves outside, Lily finds herself alone in the candle-scented, confetti-scattered room. She can feel his eyes on her as she piles the plates on top of one another, and glimpses a grin on his face as she neatly tucks the chairs back in.

Looking up, she finally meets his eyes. He nods to the lounge room, but she shakes her head and slips her hand into his, tugging him along, laughing.

"Let's take a walk," she says.

She leads him to her favourite place in Godric's Hollow – a wide, worn track that is lined with tall, stately trees that curve at the top to form a canopy. In spring, this path comes alive with colourful, blooming flowers; in winter, it's a ghostly, bare beauty; and summer brings warmth and life to the path with the little animals that scurry through the undergrowth. But Lily likes it best when it's autumn, when the leaves turn red and gold and sweep to the ground in graceful arcs, fluttering in the breeze. There's a deep, aching kind of beauty when it's autumn, and that's where the two of them walk now, along the empty, leaf-covered path.

The leaves are falling wistfully, softly as they walk in silence. Glancing sideways at him, she sees that his hair is red today, red like hers and like the leaves that decorate the path.

For a moment, they just keep walking. And then he speaks.

"I didn't get you a birthday present."

She glances at him; then looks away. Now alone, just the two of them, her feelings rise, unbidden, to the surface and she flushes.

"I noticed."

He cocks his head to one side, looking at her with his serious brown eyes. Then he grins.

"Well, I have it here now, if you want it."

She looks at him curiously as he rapidly closes the distance between them until she can feel the heat emanating from his body, warming the autumn chill. And as he leans forward, their breaths mingling in the air, the memory of a forbidden first kiss in a darkened room comes to mind and she turns her head away, smiling sadly.

"Victoire," is all she whispers.

He stops for a moment, hesitating. But then he leans forwards and kisses her and every lingering, guilty thought disappears from her mind as she feels his lips, soft and warm, against her cold ones, and his hands, large and gentle, around her small gloved ones.

And in the red and gold of autumn, in that moment surrounded by a shower of falling leaves in each other's arms, they think everything is possible.

* * *

The sun is shining brightly as Lily walks down to the lake, carrying a large pile of heavy NEWT study books and a firm determination to study in silence to her heart's content. It's the last period of the day, and also her free period, which means that there would be no one out in the grounds to disturb her. Or rather, no _Marauders _out in the grounds to disturb her.

After all, the Marauders make it a custom to make the Common Room as rowdy as possible and despite James being Head Boy, a NEWT seventh-year, _and _her boyfriend, he finds it impossible to comprehend what the word _silence _means.

Huffing, she seats herself beside the lake. It's a warm day and the sky is cloudless and blue and for a moment, she wishes that James was here to take her flying. Then the thought is firmly squashed and replaced with the procedure of a Switching Spell.

"Need some help studying?" a voice suddenly says behind her. She sighs.

"James, I told you not to bother me today."

James grins boyishly and plops himself down beside her. To her surprise, he drops a pile of exercise books in front of him and says, very seriously, "I'm here to study with you."

Her mouth opens in surprise as she stares at the books.

"Well…okay…"

Slowly, she goes back to her own notes, eyeing him out of the corner of her eye all the while. Opening a book, he adds, "I want to study Charms."

She turns back to stare at him, noticing the slight quivering of his lips as if he's trying to suppress laughter.

"Why?" she asks suspiciously. After all, he's "distracted" her from her studying three times this week now, using a different tactic each time, and she's not about to fall for it a _fourth_ time.

He grins.

"Because I think it would be best if we studied…_Charms_ together."

"Charms?" she says slowly.

"_Charms_."

The sun shines brightly on his dark hair and glasses, and his hazel eyes twinkle mischievously as he moves forward swiftly. She realises what he's about to do a moment too late and his lips are on hers in a second, locking her in place with an intoxicating kiss. Then he breaks away, still grinning.

"Charms," she says again, slightly breathless, and then, "_Charms._"

She laughs. And with the warmth of the sun on her skin, she leans forward for another kiss.

And, for the fourth time this week, Lily forgets all about NEWT studying.

* * *

Love can pounce on you and spark bright and fast until it disappears like the wax of a candle or glow, soft as an ember at first before rising steadily in its light. Love can hurt, can bleed, can thrive no matter how hard you push it away and fade no matter how far you lunge to grasp it.

But in the end, no matter under rain or shine, no matter for five minutes or five hours, love gives you a fairytale.

* * *

_**A/N:** It kept coming out all angsty even though I tried to make it as fluffy as possible :P And it's not as thoroughly edited as most of my fics because I wanted to get it in time for Aiiimy's special day. Reviewers will be showered with love._


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